Next Steps for NCCU Baseball Program

DURHAM NC – Entering the 2021 college baseball season, NCCU announced surprising news that they would be discontinuing their baseball program at the end of the year.

Since bringing back the program in 2007, NCCU had no choice but to cut multiple athletic teams due to COVID19 and budget concerns. They were demanded by the NCAA to bring the number of athletic teams down to 14 and unfortunately, baseball would be the final one to be cut.

Eagles starting catcher Chet Sikes was shocked, as was the rest of the roster, when first receiving the news during a team meeting just days before the season.

“It was really shocking, we were not expecting that at all, and the first couple of days, I was not sure when thinking about next year and kind of sat down with myself and said it doesn’t even matter. I said there is nothing to worry about right now, and we will cross that bridge when we get there. The most important thing is playing for this team and win as many games as we can this season.”

Sikes’s positive mindset has resulted in him posting impressive numbers during the 2021 campaign. In 102 at-bats, he is hitting .314 with two home runs, 11 RBI, and 21 runs scored.

The Eagles have had a tremendous turnaround as a program after the arrival of head coach Jim Koerner in 2012. During his tenure with the Eagles, the team has piled up nearly 200 wins, including five 20 win seasons in the last six years, making them a legitimate threat in the MEAC.

Koerner’s success as the Eagles skipper did not go unnoticed. A few weeks back, it was announced that following the 2021 season, Koerner will join the USA Baseball staff as the organization’s director of player development. He will serve as the Field Coordinator for the Prospect Development Pipeline League as well.

NCCU has witnessed two of its players get selected in the MLB Draft in the last four years. Pitcher Andrew Vernon was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2016, and the Detroit Tigers selected shortstop Corey Joyce in 2019. In 83 appearances for the Eagles, Vernon logged in an 8-12 record with a 3.89 ERA and punched out 181 batters. For Joyce, he hit an impressive .348 average in three seasons with 16 home runs and 112 RBI.

The current ace of the pitching staff Ryan Miller who supports a 9-0 record and a 2.47 ERA, hopes to continue the trend of players being drafted out of Central.

“I haven’t thought about next year much, but hopefully, for me, the MLB draft will reach out that would be the first thing. I am definitely looking to go somewhere for school next year for kind of a backup plan, and it is something good to have. I have had a lot of schools reach out to me, so moving forward, it will be interesting.”

Now, what are the next steps for the players after the season concludes? If they are under a scholarship with NCCU baseball, they have the opportunity to continue their education. The players who elect to transfer to another school will immediately be eligible to play in any conference for the 2022 season.

For Chet Sikes, he is looking to continue his baseball career but is still not looking too far ahead.

“I am going to transfer, but as of right now, I am not sure yet. I’ve told my coaches and my family and sat down and talked about it. I am really focused on the season right now, and that’s all that is on my mind just trying to get to a conference tournament and win that and go to regionals and keep winning as many games as we can. I don’t want anything else to take my mind off of that right now, and this team is my number one priority.”

With only a handful of games left, Sikes keeps the same mentality he came into the year with, and his focus remains only on his team and its success.

It is clear that this program believes in one another, and despite the unfortunate circumstances, the sense of brotherhood shows a special bond between the players and coaches. Ryan Miller refers to him putting on an Eagles uniform as one of the best opportunities of his life.

“Honestly, it has been one of the best opportunities of my life. I would say it was a little culture shock for me. I’m from Southeastern Pennsylvania from a small community so coming to Durham was a city vibe. I can’t speak enough of my teammates. They really made the experience the best for me, and I am appreciative of everyone I played with at Central.”

The team is eyeing their first-ever regional appearance, and it could not be written up any better if this was the year they did it in the program’s final season. North Carolina Central baseball will be remembered as a team that was competitive no matter what that responded well to adversity especially during this year. We should expect continued success from the Eagles players and coaches in the foreseeable future even though they will no longer be repping the maroon and silver.